


On the Run | BadBoyHalo AU

by Halo_the_Therian_Demon



Category: Dream SMP (Not really but eh)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28982619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halo_the_Therian_Demon/pseuds/Halo_the_Therian_Demon
Summary: Darryl's been on the run, for a long time now. But how long can he keep up the pace, before his past comes back to haunt him?
Relationships: Skephalo (PLATONIC)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Beginning

Darryl leaned back in his chair, stretching. He typed on his keyboard quickly, DMing Clay.

BadBoyHalo, 1:46 PM. 

Hey Clay, you don't mind hopping on Munchy for a bit? There's a new feature I wanna test but I don't have enough time. 

Dream, 1:47 PM. 

Sure! What's the feature? 

BadBoyHalo, 1:47 PM. 

I added an Xp system, try wandering around and killing some mobs. 

Dream, 1:48 PM. 

Okay, I'll go test it in a second. 

He brushed his fingers through his messy brown hair, getting up and putting his chair back in place. He looked around his small house, before leaving. He planned to go meet Zak today, and he didn't want to miss it for the world. Ever since Zak had applied to be a developer on Munchy, the two had been hanging out via texts, and today was finally the day that they planned to meet in real life. He got in his car, turning the key and starting it up. He drove away, to the restaurant they had planned to meet at. After that they would go to Zak's house for a bit, then Darryl would return home. He drove into the parking lot, his green eyes scanning around for the car Zak mentioned being his own. He spotted it quickly, deciding that Zak must have already gone in and gotten them a table. He entered quietly, nodding to the person at the front. 

"Darryl! Over here." Darryl turned to the voice he remembered over voice calls.

"Zak! There you are!" He said excitedly, sliding into his seat. Zak smiled in response, waiting for someone to take their order. Eventually someone came, and they each ordered what they wanted. After some discussion on who would pay, they finally got to eat and talk. 

"Any new work on Munchy? I heard that you got a new tester for it." Zak absentmindedly chewed on a French Fry.

"Yeah! His name is Clay. He mostly just tests new features that I don't have time to test myself, as well as adding small features of his own." 

"That's epic! I'm glad you're getting more support on your game, it's really cool."

"Thanks, but I'm sure there are much better games." Darryl smiled. As much as he loved how his game was going, he always felt that it wouldn't be good enough. He often tried to shove that thought to the back of his mind, along with… other things. 

"Nah man, yours is the best out there." Zak reassured him. No matter how badly Darryl thought of himself and his creations, at least he has Zak to cheer him up. They finished up their food with some small-talk here and there, before heading out to Zak's house. 

Darryl had a lot of fun, he had to admit. Halfway through his visit, the power in the neighborhood got cut due to the storm that had started, but Zak took that as an opportunity to play a cool laser puzzle game. They mostly just goofed around, and Darryl felt as if nothing could make this day go wrong. 

But everyone knows how saying that goes.

Darryl sighed lightly, slipping the key into the door knob and unlocking his way into his own house. He turned around to close the door, but saw someone standing outside in the rain, just… staring at him. The other person was wearing a backpack and looked to be about high-school age, and had… Small ram horns poking out of his hair. Darryl hardly saw them, but instantly he recognized the figure. He slammed the door hard, rushing to his bedroom. He leaned against the wall, sliding down it until he was sat with his legs pushed up against himself. 

“No, no there’s no way they found me. The way he was staring.. Maybe It was just some random of the same type?” He tried to reason with himself, tears pricking at his eyes. His back ached. He leaned forward, as if to give room for something on his back that didn’t exist. He got up, heading on his computer. Maybe it really was just some random of the same type as… him. And god, Darryl hoped and prayed that it really was just a random one. He sat down at his desk, reading through what Clay had sent him

Dream, 4:34 PM 

So, something strange happened. Apparently this other person, GeorgeNotFound, accidentally got access to the test version of Munchy. He’s a pretty chill guy, so I told him that we could hang out on DMs but to preferably not mess with the test version. 

Dream, 4:34 PM 

Also the Xp system works great! 

BadBoyHalo, 5:12 PM 

Okay, that’s cool. You did good with this George person. 

His back still ached. It wasn’t near as bad as that day, but it brought memories he would rather not keep. 

_The music was too loud. It felt like he could hardly hear, the only thing that filled his ears was maniacal laughing._

_“The ever too innocent Xia.” Xia looked up, The large male glaring down at him. His ram horns glinted in the red light that filtered through windows, where millions of others got to watch. Tears fell down his cheeks, he knew there was no way to escape this. The young one came closer, wielding a Netherite Axe. Xia screeched in agony as blood dripped from his shoulder-blades, black feathers falling all around the goat boy and the demon._


	2. Xia

Darryl stared absentmindedly at the screen of his computer, watching as the little pixely characters ran around the map. He had gotten a bunch of his testers to check out the multiplayer feature, though it had already been proven to work by Clay’s accidental encounter with George. The little avatars were mostly just slaying mobs or trading with each other. The game was almost ready to reveal to the public, it just needed a few bug fixes. He typed in chat, deciding to go outside for a bit.

BadBoyHalo

_ Afk for a bit. _

Skeppy

_ Mk _

Darryl got up, entering the kitchen and going to a side door that led to his backyard. He pulled his hood up, as pitch black seemed to creep all along his body. His eyes turned pure white, glowing softly. Small horns grew from his head, and a thin arrow-tipped tail appeared soon after. He walked over to a small table, picking up a pouch. He pulled out a throwing knife. He hadn’t practiced in a while, and after the strange encounter yesterday, he wanted to be sure he could defend himself. He threw the knife at the medium sized board in the back of the yard, hitting close to the center. He walked to the board, picking up the throwing knife before repeating for a bit. He hit the center of the target roughly two times, but that was good enough for him. He put the knife back in the pouch, before taking the pouch with him. He went back to his desk, returning to his normal human form. 

BadBoyHalo

_ I’m back, did anything happen while I was gone? _

Skeppy

_ Nothing really, Clay is trying to speedrun getting to 100 levels. _

Dream

_ I’m almost there! Just need to farm a few more Cookie Points. _

Darryl laughed lightly, glad to know that his friends were having fun on Munchy. His thoughts returned to that boy he saw last night. He looked almost the same, but taller and slightly bigger horns. That person didn’t have hooves, however. Nor the proper ears. And only the higher-ups could change to look human. Darryl’s type naturally could, but not that type. Maybe the one he saw was a higher up but not the same one? No, there was no way. Darryl had finally been found, and he already knew what could happen. He snapped himself out of his thoughts, reading Clay’s new message.

Dream

_ Hey Darryl, can I invite Nick and George? They’re really interested in the game. _

BadBoyHalo

_ Sure!  _

After a while two new messages appeared in chat.

_ SapNap joined the game. _

_ GeorgeNotFound joined the game. _

The two new avatars appeared and began exploring, before they all met up with Clay in-game. Zak offered that they all hop on a voice call, and they did. They just chatted for a bit, mostly deciding what to touch up on and any bugs that had been found. After a while, Darryl had fixed up the bugs and glitches, and decided to go on a walk outside for a bit. He locked his door as he left, seeing three people walking in the distance. He recognized one of them all too well. He fell silent, his mouth drawing a line. The growing ram horns had disappeared unlike last night, and the young boy joked and laughed with the other two there. 

“That was a shit joke, Tubbo.” The blonde one with blue eyes gave the once horned boy a joking glare, before bursting out into laughter. 

“Language-” Darryl muttered quietly, still watching the one he presumed was ‘Tubbo’. 

The tallest one there laughed lightly, ruffling the blonde’s hair. “Wilbur! Come on, you have to admit, Tubbo can’t make jokes.”

“They’re funnier than yours!” The one called Wilbur snickered, before receiving a friendly punch to the shoulder. 

Tubbo looked over, seeing the green-eyed male watching them. He hurried a little faster than the others, looking worried. Why would Tubbo be running? He was the son of a higher-up, if anything he should be laughing at Darryl. 

“In a hurry to meet dad, aren’t you!” Wilbur laughed, keeping up the pace with the boy.

“Y-yeah! Phil seems really nice, from what you’ve said.” Tubbo stuttered slightly, looking away from Darryl. 

“Hurry up Tommy!” Wilbur shouted to the blonde that had begun sprinting to catch up. They soon disappeared from view. Darryl sighed, not wanting to go on that walk anymore. He turned around, unlocking his door and opening it before he was stopped.

“Xia.” Darryl froze. He knew that name, the name he hated. He spoke slowly, trying to sound confident.

“I’m not whoever this Xia person is, sorry.” 

“We both know that’s a lie. But I just want you to know, I didn’t want to do that. It was my fa.. Boss’s orders, I couldn’t deny.”

Darryl fell silent. “.. My name is not Xia anymore.” He entered his house, closing the door. He heard steps walking away, and distant talking.

“What was that about?”

“Just wanted to ask why that guy was watching us. Apparently he thought he recognized us from somewhere. Well, we probably shouldn’t wait any longer! I wanna meet Phil.”

“Then let's be off!”

The voices faded slowly, and Darryl sighed. “Xia… I haven’t heard that name in years.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo i did another chapter thing because yes
> 
> small context: in this au, Philza is Wilbur and Tommy's adopted father


	3. Visits

Zak sat on his bed, wondering what Darryl was doing. Maybe he should go visit him. It wasn’t always the best idea to suddenly visit, but what could hurt about it? Darryl had given him his address, so why not. He got up, putting on his light blue jacket and heading out.

  
  


It really wasn’t a good time to visit Darryl. Really not a good time. He was on the floor next to his bed, leaning into the side of it. Tears ran down his cheeks. His back ached, painfully. He had seen him. Not Tubbo this time, no. Someone else. Someone worse. He was lucky that the brown-haired man didn’t notice him, not this time. He felt so stressed. Like his world was falling apart. Looks like Tubbo did tell him, maybe not where he was exactly, but still. If  **he** was down here in the overworld, something had to have happened. He heard the knock on his door. He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Not like this. It could be anyone, plus he was in his other form. And he couldn’t exactly control the transformation, not with this much stress. He heard the living room door open. He knew whoever it was had entered his house. He was gone for, he knew it. He tried to quiet his own sobs, he couldn’t be found. He wiped his tears away with his sleeve, but they kept coming. He slid down onto the floor, climbing under his bed in an effort to hide. The lights in his room were turned off already, maybe whoever it was wouldn’t think to check here. Light filtered through the doorway as it opened, and he saw someone enter.

“Darryl?” It was Zak. Thank god it wasn’t someone else, but still. He still couldn’t be seen. The light was turned on in his room. “Darryl? Where are you?” He shuffled further under his bed, clamping his mouth shut. He lifted his head slightly, his horns scraping against the wooden frame. It was silent, you could have heard a paperclip drop, even on the soft carpet. The scraping sound felt too loud. He lowered his head quickly, seeing Zak move closer to the bed. “Darryl, are you hiding? It’s just me, Zak.” 

“S-sorry- I-i can’t t-talk right now-” Darryl stuttered. His voice was all mumbly, it sounded as if he had been crying for a while. He had been, in fact. He wiped his eyes again, but the tears didn’t stop. He should have stayed silent. He saw Zak bend down, looking under the bed. Directly at Darryl. If Darryl had hidden himself better, maybe he wouldn’t have been spotted. Zak’s eyes widened, at the strange creature he saw. It didn’t look like Darryl. 

“Darryl- I-is that you?” Zak stuttered. He was afraid, wasn’t he? Darryl had made his best friend scared.

“I-i'm so sorry-” Darryl choked out a sob. He had been found. And he was sure that someone much worse would find him soon as well. He backed up further. He just wanted to sink into the shadows, hide forever. Zak climbed under the bed, and Darryl backed up in response. He was up against the back of the wall, when Zak reached towards him, pulling him into a hug of sorts. He cried into Zak’s shoulder.

“W-whatever’s happening, I’ll be here for you.” Zak said, carefully climbing out from under the bed, with Darryl following. Now that he could get a better view of his friend, he realized that Darryl wasn’t exactly human. I mean, glowing white eyes wasn’t a human thing, but now he could fully see Darryl properly, it was obvious. His friend had grown barely taller, with small black horns, a long thin tail with an arrow tip, pitch black skin and hair, and of course the glowing white eyes. It was clear his friend had been crying a lot. “Darryl, what’s going on?”

“I-it’s a long story…” Darryl looked away slightly. It was clear he didn’t want to talk about it. 

“Okay.. You don’t have to tell me.”

“No, I should. You deserve an explanation.” Darryl sat on his bed, staring forward. Zak sat next to him, watching as Darryl returned to normal. “So… I’m not actually a human. You probably already knew that from… a minute ago. I’m a demon of sorts, you could say..” Zak seemed interested, not scared. “And… I had wings.” Darryl leaned forward, staring at the ground. “But I was considered too pure. And.. They got cut off. After that, I fled here. To what others call the ‘Overworld’. After a while, I made Munchy, met you and others.. It was happy. I was happy.” He gave a weak smile. “..But recently, I saw someone. The person who… cut off my wings. He claims he didn’t mean it… But I know he told someone else. I’m sure of it. Because I saw the one who had ordered my wings to be removed, just today. Jschlatt didn’t see me, but I know if he would have… I wouldn’t be here.” 

“I’ll protect you.” Zak said right as Darryl finished.

“But, how? He’s a higher up, he could beat any human easily.”

“Well, thanks to an angry witch.” Zak stood up. “I’m not exactly a human anymore.” As he finished speaking, his skin became light blue, shining as if it was metal. His hair did the same, and his normally brown eyes became bright cyan. “I’m a diamond man!” He laughed lightly. Darryl smiled. His secret had been spilled, and Zak revealed his own, probably just to cheer him up. “If that ‘Jschlatt’ guy comes after you, I’ll make sure he can’t even get near you!” 

“But-”

“No buts. I will help you, no matter what.” 

“Thanks a ton, Zak.” He heard a knock at the door. He wiped away his tears, getting up with Zak returning to normal and following. “I should probably answer that…”

They arrived together, greeted by someone holding out a pie. “Here! I know you aren’t new to the neighborhood and neither am I, but I never gave you a welcoming gift, so I decided to do that now.” 

“O-oh, thanks!” Darryl was surprised, he wasn’t expecting someone to arrive at his door giving him a pie. 

“Er, I’m Phil.” Darryl recognized that name. And since Zak already knew about his secret, well.

“Oh, Philza?” Phil looked reasonably surprised, before realizing something.

“You must be Xia. Tubbo was talking about you!” Darryl flinched at that name, both names really. Moreso to Xia.

“He doesn’t go by Xia, actually.” Zak said, looking over at Darryl. “He goes by Darryl now.”

“Oh! Sorry for that. I’m presuming you know?” Phil asked Zak, tilting his head lightly. Zak nodded.

“We probably shouldn’t be standing out here where.. Someone.. Could hear us. Come on in.” Darryl moved over allowing Phil to enter. Once the door was closed, large dark gray wings appeared on Phil’s back. 

“Woah, those look cool!” Zak smiled, walking over to the couch with Darryl. They both sat down, with Darryl turning to his ‘demon’ form and Zak to his diamond form.

“Quite an interesting bunch we have here. Sorry for meeting you both so suddenly, I’ve been interested in meeting you.”

“It’s fine, really.”

“So, you’re Darryl, known as the kind demon.” Darryl nodded. “I suppose I should introduce myself better. I’m known as Philza, or Phil, a ‘fallen’ angel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mmyes, the transition from angst to angst-fluff to fluff.

**Author's Note:**

> oooooh boy another story and this time its badboyhalo
> 
> welcome to episode one of midnight ideas with Jay/Halo


End file.
